Atec SAM-4040D User Manual

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See bursty noise, TDMA
signals, transients as short
as 5 µs

◆

Designed to work with high­loss test points available in
today’s amplifiers

◆

Advanced TDMA digital mea­surements: level, signal/noise,
time-domain display

◆

Five hour continuous use bat­tery life (battery and charger
compatible with older
Stealth units)

◆

Existing SAM 4040s can be
upgraded to SAM 4040D
functionality

The new SAM 4040D includes all of the
same test capabilities of the Wavetek SAM
4040, but now more features are packed into
the same lightweight, durable package. The
new 4040D offers a faster spectrum analyzer
display, TDMA measurements, and a new
long-life battery.

Find Ingress Fast

One of the biggest problems with two­way networks is ingress. Even though a
network may meet leakage guidelines,
lower frequency RF signals can still leak
into the cable; this is ingress. The portable,
durable SAM 4040D’s fast, sensitive spec­trum display makes finding ingress in the
field quicker and easier.

Wavetek’s SAM 4040D is equipped with
a new impulse noise detector and more
powerful spectrum analysis modes. These
allow technicians to see noise spikes as fast
as 5 µs and track them down.

Measure TDMA or Continuous
Digital Signals

Wavetek’s SAM 4040D also offers a com­plete set of digital signal measurements:

1) Power level measurements can be made
on TDMA (‘bursted’) channels (cable
modems and most return path signals), as well
as continuous carrier channels (digital video
and most forward path signals).

2) Time-domain displays give more infor­mation about TDMA channels. Packets of
data from a cable modem can be seen and
examined. Users can verify that all modems
are being received at the same level, see
‘collisions’, or get a quick idea of network
traffic levels from any point in the field.

3) In-service in-channel D/U (desired/unde-

sired) measurements for TDMA signals. Now,
without taking modems out of service, users
can measure the level of interference in the

SAM 4040D™– PRELIMINARY

Advanced HFC Signal Analysis Meter

SAM 4040D™– PRELIMINARY

actual channel being used.

4) digiCheck™continuous carrier
power level measurement is still
available. By ‘slicing’ the desired
channel and measuring across the
entire spectrum, tilt, spectrum
shaping, and other problems are all
detected accurately.

With these capabilities, the
SAM 4040D offers the most com­prehensive digital measurement
package in any SLM.

The Same Tough Stealth Package

All of these new features are in
the same package that propelled
the current 4040 Signal Analysis
Meter, and other Stealth instru­ments, to become the industry
leader in field maintenance and
sweep test.

• Lightweight– At 4.9 lbs., the

SAM 4040D is half the
weight of most competitors.

• Easy-to-carry– The SAM
4040D’s weight and size mean
it can be held in one-hand and
easily carried. You may not even
want to use the shoulderstrap.

• Water resistant– The SAM
4040D is ready for field use
no matter what the weather
conditions.

• High resolution display– The
320x240 dot matrix LCD pro­vides high-resolution displays
of all measurements.

• Easy-to-use– The SAM 4040D
provides a simple user inter­face that is now common on
all Wavetek’s SLM, leakage,
SAM and sweep meters. This
means less training time and
more time for troubleshooting.

Comprehensive Spectrum
Analyzer Display

Five times faster than the orig­inal SAM 4040, when you press
SPECT, the spectrum update is as
fast as 750 ms per sweep. You can
zoom in and out with rapid button
presses to isolate ingress problems
or view TDMA signals.

More important is the ability to
catch transients and noise. The
SAM 4040D detects signals as fast
as 5 µs—in both zero span, and con­tinuous modes. A built-in preamp
and 50 MHz low-pass filter allow
you to track down smaller signals,
even through high-loss test points.

The SAM 4040D’s expanded
SPECTRUM mode provides the
tools needed to find ‘difficult’
problems.

• Programmable ‘dwell’ time
allows the meter to stay on
each frequency longer and
catch more ingress.

• Peak hold in spectrum mode
saves transient spikes instead
of overwriting them with the
next trace.

• CSO/CTB mode for automat­ically making intermodulation
measurements.

Wavetek’s New
Zero-Span Display

While tracking down ingress, a
spectrum Zero-span mode allows
the user to ‘camp’ on a given fre­quency and see a signal as it
comes and goes.

The SAM 4040D also measures
and analyzes digital TDMA chan­nels. First, you can observe the
power level of a packet/message.
Move the cursor onto the packet,
and the SAM 4040D indicates the
level. In addition, desired/unde­sired levels are displayed in real
time. Moving the cursor to an
empty time slot produces an auto­matic desired/undesired (carrier to
noise) measurement. Adjustable
resolution and video bandwidths
can be used to tailor zero-span dis­plays to show what the user wants.
Adjustable measurement band­width automatically calculates full
channel power in zero-span mode.

Sample Spectrum Display

Zero span mode provides accurate TDMA mea­surements.

SAM 4040D's new Navigator screen makes find­ing measurement modes easy.

Sweepless Sweep®Provides
Frequency Response without a
Sweep Transmitter

Wavetek’s trademarked
Sweepless Sweep®passively pro­vides frequency response informa­tion about a network by measuring
active carriers. The SAM 4040D
stores the levels of all active carri­ers at one reference point in the
network, and then can compare
the relative levels to another one of
the same network. Just like a ref­erenced sweep, but without the
need for a transmitter!

Extensive Suite of Troubleshooting
and Proof-of-Performance
Measurements

Carrier/noise, hum, and depth of
modulation are all measured in-ser­vice and in-channel on analog
(unscrambled) video channels. The
SAM 4040D’s sophisticated digital
signal processing algorithms provide
the most accurate information possi­ble without creating any service
outage. No other meter offers this
much information to aid trouble­shooting without creating a service
interruption to take readings.

The SAM 4040D shows levels
in both bargraph and numeric form.
When tuned to a specific channel, a
comprehensive set of information is
provided: tuned channel, video
frequency and level, audio frequen­cy and level, as well as the differ­ence between the two.

Auto-Test Takes the Pain Out of
Proof-of-Performance

Level, C/N, hum, and depth of
modulation measurements can be
automated in an ‘Auto Test’ pro­gram. These tests can be done in

real-time at the user’s request. An
internal timer allows the schedul­ing of a complete set of ‘24-hour’
test measurements. This allows
many of the FCC proof-of-perfor­mance tests to be completed in one
quick procedure.

Tests to be run for each individ­ual channel in the channel plan can
be specified by the user. All mea­surements can be checked against
limits to create a pass/fail display that
summarizes the entire test. These
test results can be viewed in the
field to ensure that the data collect­ed is correct for the required report
and can be printed directly to a serial
printer, or uploaded to a computer
for further analysis/printing.

PC Data Logging and
Analysis Software

StealthWare allows users to
upload databases and measurement
screens from the field for later analy­sis and comparison on a PC. These
files also can be used as documenta­tion of alignment work done by con­tractors or technicians.

StealthWare can be used to edit
channel plans on a PC. Channel
plans can also be uploaded from an
instrument for review.

High-Capacity Memory for
Field Documentation

The SAM 4040D offers a large,
non-volatile memory for storing the
results of measurements taken in
the field. Well over 100 files can
be stored in the unit before upload­ing (see specifications for an exam­ple of capacity). All files are stored
in a common ‘pool’ of memory, so
storing fewer of one file type allows
for storing more of another.

All files are stored as databases
of the readings, not ‘pictures’ of a
screen display. This allows view­ing parameters (such as sweep fre­quency limits or scales) to be
changed when the file is later
viewed. It also provides data for
StealthWare to compare files dur­ing later study.

New NiMH Battery Extends Usage

A new extended life battery is
provided on all SAM 4040D units. It
provides five hours of continuous use
on a single charge (even in worst
case – with backlight on).

An expandable bag allows the
SAM 4040D to use either extend­ed life batteries, or old standard
Stealth batteries, if desired.

Upgradeability

The SAM 4040D’s design
allows for easy upgradeability
while in the field. Your invest­ment in Wavetek test equipment
is protected. When future ver­sions of the SAM 4040D are avail­able, easy upgrade procedures are
provided. And, the entire proce­dure can be completed in less
than five minutes.

Operational Specifications
Level Measurement

Range: -40 to +60 dBmV
Resolution: 0.1 dB
Accuracy: +/- 1.0 dB from -20 to +50°C

1,2

Signal types: single carrier, video (single or

dual audio), audio

Additional uncertainty: +/- 1.8 dB for

digital (QAM, QPR, QPSK, VSB, CAP-16),
TDMA (zero-span spectrum mode)

Tilt Measurement

Up to 9 pilot carriers or video channels

Hi-Lo

▲▲

Resolution: 0.1dB

General

Log Linearity: +/- 0.5 dB

1

Flatness: +/- 0.5 dB

3

Dimensions: 6”x11”x3.5”
Weight: 2.3 kg (4.9 lbs.)
Operating Temperature Range:

-20 to +50°C; -4 to 122°F

Power Sources

Battery:

12V /3.5A-hr replaceable
6 hours cont. use on a single charge

Charger:

Input: 90-265VAC, 47-63 Hz
Aux out: 16V @ 750 mA
Charge: 15V @ 750 mA

1) Typical Specifications

2) Relative to 25°C

3) @25°C and +20 dBmV

Scan Mode

All video, audio, pilot carrier, and digital channel

levels displayed.

Sweep Mode

Frequency range: 5-1000 MHz
Display span: user definable
Display scale/range: 6 vertical divisions

1, 2, 5, or 10 dB/division

Stability: +/- 0.5 dB, normalized (dependant

on stability of referenced carriers)

Carrier to Noise Measurement

Non-scrambled channels only.
No preselection required for 78 channels at

+10 dBmV input level.

Resolution: < 0.5 dB
Range: 52 dB maximum

1

Hum Measurement

(carrier > 0 dBmV) Non-scrambled channels only

Range: 0 to 10%
Resolution: <0.2%
Accuracy: +/- 0.7%

Depth of Modulation

Assumes presence of white reference on any

VITS line.

Non-scrambled channels only.

Range: 80 to 100%
Resolution: <0.5% at 85%
Audio demodulation of AM and FM carriers

Spectrum Mode

Spans:

3, 5, 10, 20, and 50 MHz
(750 ms to 1.75 depending on span)

Sweep Rates:

~1 second updates with spans of 50, 20 ,
10 & 5 MHz
~1.7 second updates with 3 MHz span

Display Scaling and Range:

0.5, 1, 2, 5, and 10 dB/div.
6 vertical divisions

Dwell: programmable 0-25 ms
Spurious-Free Dynamic Range: 60 dB

1

Sensitivity:

-40 to +60 dBmV w/o preamp

-50 to +50 dBmV w/ preamp

-55 to +50 dBmV typical for f<50 MHz.

Zero-Span Mode

Video BW: >1MHz, 100 kHz, 10 kHz, 100 Hz
Resolution BW: 280 kHz, 30 kHz
Measurement BW compensation:

programmable 1 khz-99 MHz

Pulse measurement accuracy:

nominal level in 10 µs
+/- 2 dB from nominal in 5 µs (>1 MHz
VBW, 280 kHz RBW)

Sweep times:

100 µs to 20 s (1,2,5 settings)

Intermodulation Distortion
(CSO/CTB)

Range: 60 dB maximum
Resolution: 0.4 dB

Frequency

Range: 5 to 1,000 MHz
Accuracy: @ 25°C +/- 10 ppm

Drift Over Temp +/- 10 ppm
Aging +/- 3 ppm/year

Resolution Bandwidths: 30, 280 kHz, 2 MHz
Tuning Resolution: 10 kHz

Data Storage

Files stored: autotests, scan, Sweepless

Sweep®, spectrum mode (regular with max
hold, zero-span or CSO/CTB), tilt, channel
plans;
Allocated on demand.

Storage capability:

(simultaneous- more of one file type can be
‘traded’ for less of another)
(typical 78-channel plan)
(all files stored as database, not screen picture)
8 channel plans
100 sweep references/traces
60 spectrum displays
20 autotests

Serial Interface

Serial, RS232; Epson, IBM Printers

SAM 4040D™– PRELIMINARY

Worldwide Sales Offices

Austria

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

China

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France

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Germany

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Hong Kong

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Japan

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Singapore

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United Kingdom

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United States

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digiCheck is a registered trademark of Wavetek Corp.
Sweepless Sweep is a registered trademark of Wavetek Corp.
Specifications are subject to change without notice
Printed in the U.S.A. on recycled paper
© Wavetek Corporation, 1998

World Wide Web: www.wavetek.com
For Sales Support: [e-mail]
For Technical Support: [e-mail]
For Customer Service: [e-mail]

®

C51D0598

Carrier to Noise Ratio

Depth of Measurement Characteristics

1

Carrier to Noise Range (dB)

Video Carrier Level (dBmV)

-100 101424

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Out of Measurement Range

+ – 3.0 dB Accuracy

+ – 2.0 dB Accuracy

CSO / CTB Characteristics

60

Out of Measurement Range

50
40
30
20
10

0

Depth of Measurement (dB)

(without preamplification / with preselection)

-20 -10 0 10 20 30

ccuracy

A

3 dB

–

+

Video Signal Level (dBmV)

1

+ – 2.5 dB Accuracy